Rikki’s rookies unfazed

Sydney-to-Hobart veteran Ray Haslar is confident his crew of offshore racing rookies are undaunted at the prospect of tackling the legendary blue water classic today for the first time.

‘‘It’s going to be an easy race,’’ said Haslar – an assessment that may be music to the ears of seven of nine yachties aboard the Reichel/ Pugh 42 Rikki, which was built in Christchurch.

Unless the weather forecast issued on Christmas Eve is inaccurate the two New Zealand boats among the 77-strong fleet should have a relatively relaxed journey during the 628 nautical miles from Sydney Harbour’s Shark Island start line to Constitution Dock on Hobart’s waterfront.

Although Haslar’s 15th attempt at the Sydney-Hobart should be relatively sedate, an overall win on handicap is probably out of the question.

‘‘We’ll start on the wind, 15-18 knots, for the first four or five hours. Then it swings around and goes into a northerly that’ll take us halfway down the Tassie coast,’’ he said. ‘‘From there it’ll go to the south and we’ll have to be on the wind again for the last half of Tasmania [coast],’’ he said.

Haslar was the navigator when the Auckland-based Pathfinder claimed handicap honours in 1971, but he distanced himself from achieving that again.

‘‘First, you have to win your division, and then you have a chance to be overall,’’ he said.

‘‘I don’t even consider that, it’s a lottery.

‘‘It looks like the big boats could be round Tasman Island (the turning mark at the bottom of Tasmania) and heading towards the Derwent before they get headwinds. They’ll bolt away from us and we’ll be struggling tacking up wind.’’

Haslar’s goal is to win division two, where the boats range from 40 to 46 feet.

Rikki faces stiff competition from Australian entries AFR Midnight Rambler, Occasional Coarse Language Too and Chutzpah.

London 2012 yachting silver medallist Blair Tuke is the highest profile SydneyHobart debutant on Rikki.

He is familiar with the interior of Sydney Harbour, because he prepared for the Olympics with Australia’s eventual 49er champions Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen.